March on Washington: Throngs mark 'I Have a Dream' anniversary

By Mariano Castillo, CNN

Updated 10:40 AM ET, Sun August 25, 2013

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Photos:Color photos from 1963 march

Color photos from 1963 March on Washington – The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. addresses a crowd near the Lincoln Memorial during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963. On the 50th anniversary of this historic civil rights event, we take a look back through rarely-seen color photographs from the day.

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Photos:Color photos from 1963 march

Color photos from 1963 March on Washington – Civil rights protesters clap and cheer. An estimated 250,000 people participated in the march.

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Photos:Color photos from 1963 march

Color photos from 1963 March on Washington – Leaders of the rally, including King in the center, interlock hands and arms as they march. The march was organized jointly by James Farmer, of the Congress of Racial Equality; Dr. King, of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference; John Lewis, of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee; A. Philip Randolph, of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters; Roy Wilkins, of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; and Whitney Young, Jr., of the National Urban League.

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Photos:Color photos from 1963 march

Color photos from 1963 March on Washington – Protesters sing at the march.

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Photos:Color photos from 1963 march

Color photos from 1963 March on Washington – A protester sings at the march.

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Photos:Color photos from 1963 march

Color photos from 1963 March on Washington – A demonstrator holds a protest sign at the rally.

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Photos:Color photos from 1963 march

Color photos from 1963 March on Washington – Musician Odetta Holmes plays a song during the march.

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Photos:Color photos from 1963 march

Color photos from 1963 March on Washington – King stands with Rabbi Joachim Prinz, center, by his side.

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Photos:Color photos from 1963 march

Color photos from 1963 March on Washington – The crowd cheers during the event.

Color photos from 1963 March on Washington – Demonstrators crowd together as they listen to civil rights speakers during the rally.

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Photos:Color photos from 1963 march

Color photos from 1963 March on Washington – A woman attends the rally.

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Photos:Color photos from 1963 march

Color photos from 1963 March on Washington – Actor Burt Lancaster speaks to protesters at the Lincoln Memorial at the event.

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Photos:Color photos from 1963 march

Color photos from 1963 March on Washington – Actor Sidney Poitier, left, and Singer Harry Belafonte talk with one another during the march.

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Photos:Color photos from 1963 march

Color photos from 1963 March on Washington – Baseball player Jackie Robinson, right, attends the rally with his son David.

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Photos:Color photos from 1963 march

Color photos from 1963 March on Washington – A. Philip Randolph, who helped organize the rally, stands in front of the Lincoln Memorial.

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Photos:Color photos from 1963 march

Color photos from 1963 March on Washington – Civil rights leaders from left, Whitney Young Jr., Martin Luther King Jr., Walter Reuther, Eugene Carson Blake, and John Lewis stand on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial during the march.

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Photos:Color photos from 1963 march

Color photos from 1963 March on Washington – Demonstrators gather around the National Mall near the Lincoln Memorial before the beginning of the march.

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Story highlights

Two of Martin Luther King Jr.'s children will speak at event

Obama, former presidents Clinton, Carter headline a second march Wednesday

March passes King Memorial

Al Sharpton: Marchers want action, not nostalgia

Standing on the spot where 50 years earlier the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. made "I have a dream" the clarion call of the civil rights movement, a broader call for equality rang out Saturday.

Thousands rallied at the National Mall to mark the 50th anniversary of the historic August 28, 1963, March on Washington.

Leaders from civil rights, religious and civic organizations paid tribute to those who fought and continue to fight for racial equality, but the slate of demands today has expanded to other hot-button issues.

Income inequality, discrimination based on sexual orientation and mistreatment of immigrants were all themes espoused by the dozens of speakers.

"I am a daughter of the civil rights movement, and as a daughter I am a beneficiary of all the good that resulted from the hard work, the sweat and tears, and the blood that was shed by the leaders and doers of that movement," Jennifer Jones Austin of the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies told the crowd. "And as a daughter and a beneficiary, I am now the burden-bearer of this generation's civil rights movement."

That burden, she said, includes equal rights for gays and fights against poverty and gun violence.

Attorney General Eric Holder credited King's famous words for providing a foundation for the progress of the civil rights movement.

"Our focus has broadened to include the cause of women, of Latinos, of Asian-Americans, of lesbians, of gays, of people with disabilities and of countless others across this great country who still yearn for equality, opportunity and fair treatment," he said.

Many speakers invoked the killing of Trayvon Martin as an example of where they see a lack of justice for African-Americans.

Martin Luther King III, son of the civil rights icon, said his father's vision was a nation without racial discrimination. "But sadly, the tears of Trayvon Martin's mother and father reminds us that far too frequently, the color of one's skin remains a license to profile."

In 1963, "we could not have imagined we'd be here 50 years later with a black president and a black attorney general, but that's a measure of how far we have come," civil rights activist Julian Bond said. "But still, we march."

Minorities have never wished their way to freedom, he said, but have worked their way up, and must continue to do so.

Photos:Photos: Leonard Freed's March on Washington

Photos:Photos: Leonard Freed's March on Washington

Leonard Freed's March on Washington – August 28, 1963, was one of the most important days for the civil rights movement. Over 200,000 people gathered on the National Mall in Washington to hear Martin Luther King Jr. deliver his famous "I Have a Dream" speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Magnum photographer Leonard Freed (1929-2006) was there documenting that historic day.

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Photos:Photos: Leonard Freed's March on Washington

Leonard Freed's March on Washington – The crowd gathers at the National Mall.

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Photos:Photos: Leonard Freed's March on Washington

Leonard Freed's March on Washington – People sing together during the march.

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Photos:Photos: Leonard Freed's March on Washington

Leonard Freed's March on Washington – Though the name March on Washington"is well known, the full title of the gathering the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.

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Photos:Photos: Leonard Freed's March on Washington

Leonard Freed's March on Washington – People sing together during the rally.

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Photos:Photos: Leonard Freed's March on Washington

Leonard Freed's March on Washington – Ten leaders of the civil rights movement met with President John F. Kennedy, Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, Labor Secretary W. Willard Wirtz and Burke Marshall, head of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, in the Cabinet room of the White House during the demonstration.

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Photos:Photos: Leonard Freed's March on Washington

Leonard Freed's March on Washington – People watch and wait for speakers.

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Photos:Photos: Leonard Freed's March on Washington

Leonard Freed's March on Washington – Though the most iconic shot from the March on Washington may be of King waving to the crowd, Freed moved throughout the crowd finding the faces that weren't seen in the papers.

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"While I'm elated that we've come today to march on Washington, we must not only march on Washington. We must stand for a genuine living wage and jobs. We must stand to end the 'stand your ground' laws. We must stand against stop-and-frisk, must must stand against voter suppression," Bishop Darin Moore of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church said.

Another theme repeated throughout the event was outrage at the Supreme Court decision that threw out a key part of the Voting Rights Act.

The court in June invalidated the formula used to determine which states or local jurisdictions -- mostly in the South -- could remain under special federal oversight, requiring approval from Washington before they can change voting procedures.

That blunted much of the government's enforcement power in states and localities with a history of discrimination at the polls.

"We didn't forget the price they paid," the Rev. Al Sharpton said, referring to those on the front lines of the civil rights movement. "We've fought too hard, our parents shed too much blood, there was too many nights in jail, for you to take our vote from us now."

Sharpton said organized protests to demand a reinstatement of the provisions are forthcoming.